” “”Rediscovering the Church as a patron in order to train young artists and fund music works, films and new art forms, to better communicate Christ and draw the attention of the new generations to the beauty of Christian life”: this is the invitation of the auxiliary bishop of Melbourne, Mark Benedict Coleridge, as he spoke at the plenary meeting of the Papal Council for Culture, about "The via pulchritudinis, a path of evangelisation and dialogue" which ended in Rome last night. About the World Youth Day (WYD) due in Sidney in 2008, the bishop added: “We are experiencing a crisis in the transmission of faith; understanding the culture of the young and their way of looking at beauty is a pastoral priority, and to face the challenge of communicating the Gospel today, education to beauty is a crucial step”. The Church he added, can help the young to "open up to the beauty of Christian life and discover beauty even in the very heart of brutality: Jesus on the cross, despised, humiliated, suffering, is extremely beautiful for Christians”. And still about the WYD, mgr. Coleridge commented: "The young are won over by this experience, because for them it’s nice to be together. Beauty means to feel part of a community, in communion with the universe and in agreement with the meaning of life”. So: “We must develop an evangelic imagination and create new meeting places, experiences of fraternity and friendship, also with young people of different religions. In particular, we must introduce them to the spirituality of pilgrimage, to contemplate the beauty of Christ’s face”.” “
